Language Production in Parkinson’s Disease
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Language production in Parkinson’s Disease: An investigation into the characteristics and underlying linguistic and cognitive mechanisms
IRAS ID
203470
Contact name
Angelique Laverty
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Strathclyde
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 10 months, 25 days
Research summary
It is known that individual’s with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) can experience difficulties with communication. This can affect the way individuals produce the sounds of speech, making them less intelligible. It can also affect individuals’ ability to think of the right word and combine words into sentences. Whilst we know a lot about the intelligibility problems, there is little information on the difficulties these speakers have with producing sentences, and what may be causing these difficulties.
Other brain processes (such as short term and working memory) have been linked to the language problems seen in individuals with PD. Current information also suggests that individuals with Parkinson’s Disease find action words (verbs) particularly difficult, however the impact that this difficulty might be having upon the sentences that people with PD say hasn’t been explored.
Our study aims to find out more about the type of language problems individuals with PD experience, how these affect their daily communication, and what might be causing them. This will be achieved through:
1) Investigating the impact that naming action words (verbs) may be having upon the sentences and groups of sentences used by individuals with PD
2) Investigating what other brain processes (for example, working memory) may be underlying the language changes observed in individuals with PD
3) Investigating whether language changes are more or less evident in different speaking conditions, for example in tasks where people are asked to describe a picture vs more natural conversation
REC name
West of Scotland REC 3
REC reference
16/WS/0215
Date of REC Opinion
25 Nov 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion